This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/691,263, filed Aug. 2, 1996, which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety. This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/910,004, filed Aug. 12, 1997, which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety.
The invention relates to a portable computing device or terminal, and in particular a device arranged to link up to the Internet or a private computer network.
The Internet computer network is gaining ever increasing significance in the world of science, technology, information and commerce amongst many others. The Internet will be well known to the skilled reader but, in brief summary, comprises a network of computers practically worldwide and accessible from any access point suitably linked to retrieve information contained in the Internet. Various sub-networks exist within the Internet, one of the best known of which is the worldwide web.
Information is commonly stored on the Internet in the form of xe2x80x9cpagesxe2x80x9d often comprising a xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d relating to a general site and providing guidance and access to the contents at that site, the contents being contained in xe2x80x9csub-pagesxe2x80x9d. A site includes a unique Internet Protocol address or Universe Resource Locator (URL). The site can thus be accessed from any access point to the Internet by entering the relevant address and displaying the site held at that address. The user accesses the Internet via a client computer, for example a PC linked to the Internet. The link will typically be via a modem and telephone line and a service provider or server acts as intermediary, the client accessing the Internet via the server. In addition, the server allows the user to set up an Internet site. It will be appreciated that the server generally comprises a fixed station. Such an arrangement can give rise to an unnecessary level of inflexibility. In particular it is often time consuming and unnecessarily complex to have to access the fixed station server to set up or access an Internet site.
Various developments to Internet related systems have been disclosed in US patents. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,984 relates to a security system for connecting computer networks, U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,162 relates to a bridge for connecting parallel processors to the external environment, U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,494 relates to a routing protocol for multicast messages across the Internet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,842 relates to message transmission between firewall servers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,754 relates to an interface between a wire line carrier and a remote host on a Local Area Network (LAN), U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,335 relates to an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)-LAN connection terminal, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,283 relates to packet transmission across a series of modes in a network, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,237 relates to a network of LAN""s connected to an ISDN including a plurality of routers/sub-routers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,437 relates to a bridge-type device for coupling segments of an extended LAN, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,468 relates to a terminal adapter for connecting a LAN and a Wide Area Network (WAN) using an Internet Standard Protocol, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,789 relates to graphically displaying computer network topology, U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,988 relates to a system for classifying duplicate source address replies, U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,860 relates to a system for determining the nodes connected to a computer network and U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,931 relates to a system for an inter-network arranged to simplify the network addressing system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,633 relates to a method for routing a data packet between a mobile host and a destination host via a wireless link between the mobile host and a base station. The base station acts as a physical location of the mobile host and is linked to the network via a LAN subnetwork.
The mechanism of file name translation across a distributed network are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,652, incorporated herewith by reference.
A range of products have been developed by Spyglass Inc. enhancing the Internet connectivity of existing devices. In particular these products are designed to connect electronic products to the worldwide web such as cellular phones, cable T.V. set-top boxes, televisions, personal digital assistants and pagers, providing the infrastructure, applications and services to allow these devices browsing capability across the Internet. One such product is available under the trade mark REMOTE MOSAIC which converts browsing into a client service operation in which lightweight xe2x80x9cviewersxe2x80x9d are custom-integrated into devices which connect to a xe2x80x9cproxy browserxe2x80x9d on a remote server. The proxy browser handles applications demanding excessive process or memory capabilities such as caching and connects the device to other servers.
In another aspect there are numerous situations in which an instantaneous image of a scene or object is of considerable use and importance, for example in insurance claims documentation where it is vital to document as accurately and completely as possible the circumstances against which the insurance claim is made. Conventionally details are documented either in writing or by taking photographs using a film camera. This information is then subsequently entered with all other information relating to the insurance claim. Such a system is time consuming and error-prone, in particular because of the subsequent re-entry of information and transfer of the physical photograph to the relevant file. Similar problems arise, for example, in news coverage of an incident, police or other authorities"" incident reports and so forth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,994 relates to a multimedia information delivery network system. A wide area transmitter transmits the multimedia programs which are received by a plurality of network servers for re-transmission to downstream network servers or a user. The programs are cached at the network servers as determined by a scheduler for efficient delivery of the multimedia program to each user.
In another aspect, data terminals connected to the Internet are conventionally required to download applets in an appropriate agent implementation language from a host which is a complex and slow process.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid, mitigate or overcome the problems associated with prior art arrangements.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved data device interconnection with the Internet.
According to the present invention there is provided a data terminal connectable to, and remote from, the Internet comprising a data input and an internal server for creating an Internet site representing the input data and having an Internet Protocol address, the terminal further comprising a network link cooperating with the server to provide access to the site to users elsewhere on the Internet. The system thus provides substantial benefits as regards speed, efficiency and accessibility.
The Internet site may be a web site. The data input may comprise one or more of the group of image recordal means, sound recording means, or text recordal means. The network link may be a wireless network link comprising one of the group of a radio frequency link, an infrared IRDA standard link or a microwave link over a private wireless local area network, or a cellular telephone network.
According to the present invention there is provided a data terminal connectable to, and remote from, a data network comprising a data input, means for creating a user accessible data site representing the input data and having a site address and a network link arranged to receive access requests from users elsewhere on the network addressed to the site, and provide access to the addressed site.
The network may comprise one of the group of the Internet, an Intranet or a Local Area Network (LAN), for example the network comprising the Internet and the site address comprising an Internet Protocol address. The site comprises a Web site.
The data input may comprise one of the group of image recordal means, sound recordal means or text recordal means, or even a chemical xe2x80x9csnifferxe2x80x9d which detects the presence of certain chemicals in the air (e.g. natural gas, or other combustible or hazardous fumes). The data site creation and access means may comprise a server internal to the terminal. The network link may be a wireless link comprising one of the group of a radio frequency link, an infrared IRDA standard link or a microwave link.
According to the invention there is provided a mobile image recording unit connectable to the Internet via a wireless link comprising image recordal means, a server for creating an Internet site having an Internet Protocol address and representing the recorded image and a wireless link arranged to provide site access to requests directed to the site address.
The server may create respective sub-pages for respective recorded images and includes a menu setting out the sub-pages on a home page at the site address.
According to the invention there is provided an Internet site creation and access system comprising a mobile unit including a server arranged to record images at a given geographical location and create a site representing the image internal to the terminal, wherein the mobile unit communicates with the Internet via a wireless link and users access the site at the mobile unit via the Internet.
According to the invention there is provided a method of creating a web site in which a mobile unit records data relating to its immediate environment, a server within the mobile unit creates a web site page representing the data and having an Internet Protocol address, and Internet users access the web site at the Internet Protocol address via a wireless link between the mobile unit and the Internet.
According to the invention there is provided an image capture and relay system comprising a remote still image capture device including an encoder for encoding the captured image as an image data signal and a transmitter for transmitting the image data signal, the system further comprising a base station for receiving the image data signal and providing access to the image data. As a result, prompt access to the image is allowed at the base station.
The image capture device may comprise a digital camera and many further include a bar code reader and/or a microphone and/or a user data input device and/or include a printer, preferably arranged to print bar code symbols or a hard copy version of the captured image.
The image capture device may include a visual display screen and, advantageously means for altering an image displayed on the visual display screen.
According to the invention there is further provided a still image capture device comprising a digital camera, an encoder for encoding the still image as an image data signal, and a transmitter for transmitting the image data signal by wireless transmission to a remote base station.
According to the invention there is further provided a method of capturing and relaying an image comprising the steps of capturing the image using a remote image capture device, encoding the captured image as an image data signal and transmitting the image data signal, the encoder and transmitter being provided in the remote image capture device, and receiving the transmitted image data signal in a base station for distributing the image. The image captured may relate to a given incident and the base station may transfer the received image to an insurance database relating to the incident.
The image captured may relate to the condition of goods prior to delivery and the received image may be transferred from the base station to a delivery point for comparison with the received goods.
The image captured may relate to the condition of goods to be delivered, the image data signal may be encoded as a bar code symbol applied to the goods to be delivered, and the bar code symbol may be decoded at the point of delivery for comparison of the captured image with the condition of the goods as received.